Super soft and moist spelt bread with sage, roasted sweet potatoes and maple syrup. The maple syrup and sweet potatoes give this bread a subtle sweetness that pairs beautifully with the fresh sage. This bread is great for sandwiches, french toast, or just fresh out of the oven with butter. In order to ensure good gluten development to make this bread as light as possible, the dough is mixed in two stages. The dough is first mixed without the sweet potato, oil and sugar to medium gluten development and then the remaining ingredients are incorporated.

Directions

To roast the sweet potato place one medium sweet potato on a sheet pan lined with parchment and roast at 375˚F for 45-60 minutes. The potato should be very soft with sugary syrup beginning to leak out when done. Let cool, remove skin and measure out 200g (3/4C) of flesh for the recipe.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook add the water, yeast, flours and salt. Mix on low speed just until fully incorporated scraping the bow if necessary. Rest the dough in the bowl for 15 minutes.

Mix together the roasted sweet potato, maple syrup and oil and set aside.

Add the sweet potato mixture to the bowl mix on low speed stopping frequently to scrape down the bowl and fold over the dough with a rubber spatula until the pumpkin mixture is mostly incorporated and the dough hook begins grabbing on to the dough.

Mix on medium speed (Kitchen Aid 4) for 5-7 minutes until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Add the sage and mix until evenly distributed.

Turn dough out into an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 45 minutes.

Stretch and fold the dough. Begin by grabbing one side of the dough with both hands (wet your hands so they don’t stick) and gently pulling it up and folding it back down over the top. Don’t over stretch the dough to the point of tearing. Turn the bowl 90 degrees and repeat until you have gone all the way around (4 folds). Allow the dough to rise for another 45 minutes or until it has roughly doubled in size.

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured counter and divide in two.

Pre-shape the dough into a ball and let it rest for 20 minutes before final shaping.

Preheat the oven to 400˚F with the rack one down from the middle.

Gently degass the dough and shape into an oblong loaf and place in a greased 9x5 metal loaf pan.

If using an egg wash (for a darker glossier crust) whisk together the egg and cream and brush the tops of the loaves. Keep the remaining wash to apply a second coat immediately before baking.

Cover loosely with lightly greased plastic and allow to rise for 60-90 minutes at warm room temperature until a dampened or floured finger makes an indent that slowly bounces back but not fully.

Brush the loaf with a second thin coat of egg wash (optional).

Place in the loaves in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 375˚F.

Bake for 30 minutes until the top is golden to dark brown and the internal temperature reads 200˚F on an instant read thermometer.

Remove from the oven. Remove from the pan immediately and cool on a wire rack. They may stick to the pans when they first come out but will loosen up after a couple of minutes.

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